Seasons' Change
by jfiggaz
Summary: Still in the storyline of Happy Holidays, Rizzolis. It's summertime but the Rizzoli clan is still experiencing winter.
1. Summertime

"It's just a scar, Maur," Jane cooed as the ME ran her hand over, the three inch healed incision across the detective's abdomen. "It wasn't my first and probably won't be my last." Summer came with a vengeance, the temperature teetered between sweltering and hell. The Rizzolis found themselves most evenings laying in the hammock Jane built on their deck and this one was no different.

"At least we'll have matching scars," Maura smiled halfcocked "Well not exactly, the pfannenstiel incision will be more aesthetically pleasing, than one after a bullet through the gut." Maura tugged Jane's Boston PD shirt back in place, then pushed a few sweaty strands behind the detective's ear.

"Did my wife say "gut"? I promise, I'm going to figure out how to work that high tech gadget you call a camera before this baby comes. Anyway Dr. Rizzoli, I thought you liked my scars." Jane readjusted Maura's weight careful not to capsize the blue hammock.

"I do. Every single scar you have is a testament to your strength and resilience. When I kiss your scars, it's a constant reminder that I fall asleep in the arms of a warrior. I am not a warrior, I'm a pregnant woman with a deformed birthing canal and they have to cut my baby out."

"Cut your baby out," Jane laughed "So you're finally freaking out, I read about this in all of the forty books you've left on my desk, my side of the bed, the driver's seat of my squad car and the Range. Some women go back and forth between nesting and crazy."

"Not funny," Maura deadpanned.

"Maura, come on you were able to perform a caesarian and you'd only done one. Not to mention you were covered in mud, four months pregnant, and I was helping. We've talked to the doctor, you are a doctor. Everything is going to be fine."

"Everything is going to be fine," Maura repeated after a deep breath. "For the last time, it was clay. Utah clay."

"I've been thinking, after all the stuff with Pop and Ma. Frankie and I at odds. This kid has two wonderful parents, it genetic identity doesn't matter. I know that's what you're really worried about."

"Are you sure, Jane?" Maura whimpered.

"Yea, what good will come in me knowing. You should know for health reasons, but I want to see Dominic or Adrianna Rizzoli as my kid. If it's Frankie's I'm not sure, I could handle it. Ignorance is bliss."

"Rizzoli features are very dominant," Maura stated "You would know." She slid from her comfortable spot and stood to her feet, so she could really face Jane to read her expression.

"I could have an idea but it's not in black and white and the donor we chose had a lot of my features as well. Don't push the issue, Maur. I just want to forget last winter completely if I could. Everything with exception of all the baby stuff. We still haven't caught Terry and Mikey's killer."

"Dominic and Adrianna, those are your two choices," Maura smiled. "That's a long way from anything but Franco, Frank, Francesco, Frankie. I'm ok with those choices although…."

"Although, what Maur," Jane chided.

"They sound a little…well mobish. We should be careful with the surname Rizzoli. Doyle will have no problem picking out his grandchild," Maura winced

"I better not see Patrick Doyle in ten miles of my child or it will be a fuckstorm," Jane spat.

"Lang…I'm too pregnant and it's too hot to care," Maura winced. "I'm going to start dinner."


	2. Pressure

**I don't own anything. Um so this should straighten out any questions, for those folks that didn't read Happy Holiday's Rizzolis. Thanks for the reviews.**

"I'm here because I love Maura, my wife, more than anything. I love her more than my own life and I know the tension between my family hurts her more than she let's on," Jane sighed.

Dr. Patel was a petite woman, with long flowing jet black hair and kind green eyes. Her office was slightly sterile, more grays and modern furniture than the detective's taste.

"Hmm," Dr. Patel pursed her lips and jotted something on her iPad.

"You're my fifth shrink. Although, the first one that hasn't been court ordered, department ordered, or family ordered. Maura doesn't even know that I'm here but I'm not sure how to fix any of this mess."

"What mess would that be, Detective," Dr. Patel asked?

"I love my brother. He's been my shadow since I was five. He's always been a good brother, a great brother," Jane smiled as if she was lost in a reverie. "He impregnated my wife at my mother's request. Actually he gave his little guys, to my mother who then persuaded a cryogenic tech to switch them with the sperm Maura and I selected. The cryogenic tech was a known meth addict from my old neighborhood in Charlestown and is dead. We still haven't solved his murder." Jane blurted as she nervously played with her wedding band.

"So that's what you meant by mess," Dr. Patel replied. "You obviously still care about your brother. When was the last time you spoke with him?"

"Christmas Eve. I know Maura still has contact with him but he relocated to another precinct, after the incident. I miss him. I've tried to call him a million times but every time, I work up the courage to press "call" I freeze. We still don't know if the kid is his or not. If that's Frankie's kid, something about it just makes it feel like less of my own."

"It's perfectly normal to feel that way. What would be the difference if Frankie died and left you and Maura to raise his baby? Would you be less of a mother, a nurturer to that child?"

"No, I guess not. Still it's not the same. What makes me most angry is that I didn't have a choice. Maura and I haven't lived the most easy lives. There has always been some major sacrifice in every good we've ever received. I just thought this would be the one thing that would be simple. We pick a donor, some guy I know I will never see or my children will see and live our happy perfect lives in the Back Bay."

"How does Maura feel about the situation?"

"I'm not sure. Two days after she I told her she was pushing reconciliation. Honestly that's all she ever talks about, when it comes to this. It's been seven months and we still haven't really talked about it. At least not her feelings or mine, we kind of put a band-aid over the situation. She was angry in the beginning but who wasn't." Jane paused. "Last week was her baby shower, I know she missed my mother being there. I know she misses Sunday dinners. In the last twenty-five weeks, we have not had one Sunday dinner at home. Snow, hail, rain, she doesn't care, we're eating somewhere."

"Have you thought about asking her about her feelings?"

"Yes, but it never seems like a good time. Even with all of this chaos, we're closer. I'm more attentive, it's like I have to get lost in my head to express my feelings. Sometimes when I'm lost in there, I can't find my way out for months. I'm not taking Maura through what we went through after the shooting."

"Do you still have contact with your father?"

"Not after the divorce. My parents marriage barely made it through the shooting, I knew it wasn't going to make it through this. What I wasn't expecting was, him letting house foreclose and then moving somewhere in Randolph. I see him now and again at my cousin Angelo's house."

"Well Jane you've had no trouble expressing how you feel here. Do you feel that you're lost in you head?"

"Actually, no," Jane exhaled relieved.

"I have an exercise. Write a letter to Frankie, your mother, your father, and to Maura. In it explain exactly how you feel; now that you have a few months to think clearly. When you're finished we can discuss it here or you can mail them."

"Home," Jane yelled over the sound of Chris Botti and Jill Scott. She threw her saddle bag into the foyer closet and headed for the kitchen.

"Jane," Maura sighed. Her face was red and covered in tears. Her blond tresses were pasted on to her perspired forehead.

"Maur, what's wrong baby cakes," Jane cooed as she rushed over to the pregnant ME sitting crossed legged on their living room floor.

"I hate the color sage. Today I was in the baby's nursery and I realize that I hate sage. Everything is wrong," Maura sobbed her face now buried in the detective's blazer.

"We can paint it orange blossom or canary. Honey, I don't remember any of the other colors we looked at, the must have been a hundred swatches. I'll call the painter in the morning," Jane replied.

"I know we can repaint, Jane," Maura spat. "My parent's won't be here for the baby's birth. Daddy has a lecture in Johannesburg. My mother feels whatever need to accompany him. You're family won't be there. We'll have no grandparents, no uncles, and no family there to help us welcome our family."

"Korsak and Frost will be there. We don't need anyone to welcome our family. What matters is that we have a family and we remain good to each other. We'll teach our children family first." Jane cooed as she leaned in to kiss her wife's stomach.

"You were taught that and look where we are?" The ME tears flowed like a steady stream over her crimson cheeks. Her hazel eyes were clear but swollen.

"Every family has it's rough patches. Frankie and I will make-up, I'm certain. Ma and I are on speaking terms."

"The fact that you refrain from calling her a "bitch" at Angelo's barbeque doesn't count as "speaking terms". I've always imagined that my child would have lots of family to make sure that they knew they belonged."

"I'm going to fix everything, Maur. I promise," Jane sighed. The only thing that turned Jane's stomach more than Maura's tears was finding a child vic. "So you hate sage," Jane smirked hoping to deflect.

"I hate sage," Maura smiled halfcocked.


	3. My Brother's Keeper

**As always gracious for the reviews. This story is going to move slightly slower than rest. I feel I need to supply a bit more back story than usual.**

"16 stitches, that has to be a Rizzoli record," Maura smirked as she pulled back an ER curtain at General.

"I told them not to call you. Frost is my emergency contact," Frankie muttered. The young beat cop had grown a full beard and cut his hair into a closer crew cut. Maura thought the more rugged version of Frankie was quite handsome. Even though the doe eyed, little brother that she once knew eyes had become dark and sullen.

"Dr. Anderson is the attending, we're BCU alumni. She recognized you from Christmas Eve and called me," Maura shrugged. "I didn't call your mother or tell Jane I was coming so don't worry, you're safe from at least one night Rizzoli dysfunction."

"Wow, Maura you look like you're ready pop. And radiant, did I say radiant," He smiled. "When are you due?"

"Three weeks, although secretly I wouldn't mind if they delivered this baby tomorrow," She grabbed her back and plopped in a waiting chair. "I expect for you to be there, at the birth of your niece or nephew with cheap cigars and booze for Jane."

"What is this the fifties? My sister made it very clear, she doesn't want me around Maur. We went through a whole Celtics season with out one word. I'm tired of calling her and trying. I want to hate Ma. After the shitty divorce, the foreclosure, all I can do is feel sorry for her. What I wouldn't give for one more night at the Robber," Frankie sighed.

"I know exactly how you feel. What you did was wrong, Frankie. No one has been harder than you on yourself. Are you still attending the meetings, at St. Francis?"

"Yea," he waved his 30 day chip. "Jane know, about the night in Dorchester. A Rizzoli never puts his family in that kind of position. I'm sorry," He sighed.

"No. So how did you get the laceration," Maura deflected?

"You wouldn't believe it," He chuckled to himself. "I was serving a warrant to an old lady. The lady has to be in her mid-seventies, as I'm putting the handcuffs on Grandma. I see what I think is a little boy with a knife. I hesitate pulling my piece next thing I know the little boy sliced my calf."

"Where was your partner?"

"Standing right there. I mean it happened so quickly and no one wants to draw a weapon on a child. Although it wasn't a child, it was the old lady's boyfriend. He was a midget, little person, dwarf," Frankie laughed. The doctor and the beat cop fell into a uproarious laughter, one that started in their gut and spread through they're entire body.

"Frankie," Frost huffed disrupting the pair. "What the hell, man? Are you ok? Dr. Isles," The young detective gasped.

"Isles-Rizzoli," Maura corrected. Her face flushed red as if she'd been a teenager caught smoking a cigarette in the girl's bathroom.

"Aww shit not again. Jane is my partner. I'm suppose to have her back in any given situation. Why do you two keep putting me in positions; in which I have to lie to her?"

"Sorry, Frost," the Rizzolis said in unison.

"Sorry Frost my ass. Jane has to love you because you're her brother," He spat at Frankie "She loves you "Dr. Isles-Rizzoli" well who wouldn't love that," He smirked. "If Jane finds out about you two fraternizing on my watch, it's going to be my ass. It took way too long to earn Jane's trust for y'all to fuck it up. Language, I know."

"I guess that's my cue to go. I'm ordering groceries for you from Whole Foods. Please eat them Franco, it will expedite the healing process," Maura sighed as she held out a hand for Frost to help her from the chair. Once on her feet, she placed a tender kiss on her brother's forehead and then one on the steaming detective's cheek.

"Bye gentlemen, I'm off to Benjamin Moore to feel paint," Maura chuckled.

The ME exhaled as soon as she settled into the driver's seat of her Prius. She slid her hand over her bulging belly. Maura wondered how many times would she have to go to General for this Rizzoli? Her mind suddenly slipped to that unusually warm night in March.

"_Maur, I'm going for Kentucky who ya goin for," Frankie slurred. Maura had just finished her last autopsy for the day and thought it was Crowe calling for the results._

"_Tommy? How did you get my office number," Maura quizzed?_

"_No, no, no, no it's Frankie. Franco. I'm going for Kentucky who ya goin for Maur? Janie won't tell me. So I thought maybe you would know. Is it UConn? I bet it's Duke," He sobbed. _

"_Frankie where are you? You need to go home. Take a cab and I'll meet you at your apartment. We can talk about as many stats as you would like."_

"_Cab, Maur, home. No come to where the party is in Dorchester. I'm watching the Celtics play. Working on my bracket, I think this is Kentucky's year. I call you when I get home. I promise sis."_

_Calls like this from Frankie we're becoming more frequent. Every couple of weeks since the Christmas Party, Maura would receive a drunken call about some sporting event, she knew very little about. He would never want to meet her just called for five minute ramblings. Maura figured it was Frankie's way of coping. It wasn't healthy and Maura was becoming very concerned but Frost assured her that Frankie was ok._

_She believed Frost until that unusually warm night. Jane was with Korsak and Frost in a midst of a stakeout in Charlestown. Maura didn't know where Frankie was and he would always keep his promise to call or text when he got home. Pregnancy exhausted the ME, not to mention they were short hand in the morgue. As soon as the doctor arrived home, she dove into her bed. Her otherwise peaceful sleep was disturbed by the piercing sound of her cell phone._

"_Is this Dr. Rizzoli-Isles," the woman asked?_

"_Yes," Maura replied._

"_I'm sorry to inform you but…"_

"_Not Jane," Maura gasped._

"_No a Franco Rizzoli has been brought in with acute alcohol poisoning. He is in the process of having his stomach pumped and he is unconscious. If anything happens we need you're consent, you are listed as his next of kin."_

"Maura," Jane yelled. The ME hadn't realized she'd answered her phone. "Earth to Maura."

"Yes, Jane," Maura replied.

"Where are you? I thought we were suppose to be "feeling" paint together," Jane chided. "Have you decided you're ok with sage?"

"No, Jane I'm en route."


	4. Who Feel's Paint?

**Here is the next installment. Thanx for the reviews. **

"She's here," Jane sighed, partly annoyed but mainly relieved. After a quick peck on the blonde's cheek, she smirked "Denny, Maura hates sage." The detective had been abruptly dropped at the hardware store, by her partner for nearly thirty minutes.

"No way Dr. R. You spent two months picking out that color. And it took me ten cans of paint and my roommates Adderal to finally perfect that hue of green," the young art student caught Jane's glare "I meant to say Redbull, definitely Redbull." The scruffy, hipster feverously ran his hand through his cropped red curls. "So what can I brew for Boston's finest?"

"This," Maura smiled as she pulled out a small bluish-green marble from her pocket. "It was a gift from Jane before we started dating"

"You kept that," Jane smirked with a combined laugh and cough. Lately the detective had been reduced to these muted laughs because hell hath no fury like a mocked pregnant woman.

"Yes," Maura rolled her eyes. "Denny, I know was impertinent about the sage but I'm sure this is the color I want. Can you try to have your first attempt by tomorrow afternoon."

"That's it," Jane huffed. "I left the homicide softball game to watch you give Denny a marble." The detective leaned back on her heels and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Can I at least have pancakes for dinner, with real bacon from a pig," she whined.

"I wouldn't mind going to Mike's but it's closed. How about I make my patient, big bad, detective, strawberry crepes with apple wood sausage from a chicken," Maura cooed as she tucked fallen unruly curls out of Jane's face.

"Deal," Jane huffed, then dug her heels into ground. She was mainly frustrated at how easily Maura could pacify her and how unbelievably domesticated she'd become.

"I still can't believe you traded in the Benz for this," Jane chuckled. She'd opened Maura's door for her before the valet in the garage fully exited the car. "I know we both needed new cars for Dominic's arrival but a Prius. I drive a gas guzzling Range Rover and my wife drives a Prius."

"I want little Cillian to be earth conscious," Maura deadpanned as she backed into the passenger seat.

"Cillian, I know you're Irish and I'm Italian but we are not naming our kid, Cillian. It would be fine if we lived in Dublin but we live in Boston," Jane shrugged as she pulled onto Charles street.

"We're not naming our kid, Dominic. I rather name the kid Earl,"

"Earl," Jane winced which sent them into an insane uproar. They laughed like stoners and an empty sandwich baggie. "Earl Rizzoli it is. I just thought I would name my first kid Francesco. I respected my father so much and I knew that Frankie would want to name his first son Franco."

"We still can," Maura smiled. "Providing the child I'm carrying is male."

"No, we've already decided on Earl," Jane half heartedly chuckled. "I'm exhausted today. I rather have beer and Lucky Charms you don't have to cook. Where were you? You put a post it on my forehead to meet you there by 4:30 and you show up at 5. Frost and I we're going to grab a few beers, but he tells me his sister has a flat in Newton. So what happen, I know it has to do with my brother."

"How do you know it has to do with Frankie," Maura quipped. She rolled down her window to the toxic smell of Boston in summer.

"You and Frost have the same expression, like you've been cheating. We don't have to talk about it. I won't fly off the handle if you tell me you saw my brother. I'm glad you were able to maintain a relationship with him. I look forward to the day, when he and I can have some sort of semblance."

"Semblance? So you have been reading the word a day calendar," Maura smirked.

"My genius wife is pregnant with what I'm sure to be my genius baby. No way Rizzoli getting taken out of the loop. I mean I'm not off to read Dante or anything but I should be able to follow a conversation, when the kid's ten."

The ride home was quiet and uneventful besides Maura's sprint to the bathroom as soon as the pulled up in the drive. Jane sat in the car, pulled her iPhone from the holster and dialed.

"We need to fix this. I'm ready to talk. Breakfast tomorrow at Mike's," Jane commanded.

"Jane," Angela quizzed? "What time," she almost whispered.

"Six, before Maura get's up. I only have an hour or so," Jane deadpanned.

Jane replaced her phone in the holster. Exhaled the deepest breath as she pulled her hair into a ponytail and wiped the sweat from her brow. She stripped to her tank top and boxers, grabbed a beer from the fridge, then made a beeline to the hammock.

"Why were you laughing at the fact, I kept the marble," Maura asked? Too tired to attempt the ordeal of laying in the hammock, she opted to settle on the patio furniture.

"It's sweet you kept it. The story behind why you have the marble is funny. Valentine's day 2008," Jane paused taking a long sip of pale ale "I couldn't forget it, if I tried. I bought you, vintage champagne flutes from your antique boutique on Boylston. As the guy was wrapping them up, he breaks them. Fuck me was all I could think. It was 7'oclock on Valentine's Day. We had reservations in an hour and I had nothing."

"Jane we weren't dating at that point. You shouldn't have gone out of your way for a gift, especially if you knew you we weren't going to copulate."

"What'd ya get me that year," Jane deadpanned?

"Courtside seats to the Celtics vs. Cavs," Maura recalled robotically.

"Exactly," Jane smirked "So here I am with no damn flutes. Also no freaking idea, where to start looking for a replacement. I mean I'd watched you, eye those flutes since Christmas. I call Frankie, in a panic. He tells me to give you Grandpa's marbles. At first I thought no fucking way. I mean, that was my only connection to my PopPop, he had died the previous summer and… Even as an adult, we played marbles on the floor. Besides, Pop that was my hero." Jane wiped a rogue tear.

"I hightail it to my car. Grab the wooden box, PopPop and I made one summer for our collection of marbles. You know the one, you gave Denny is one he brought over as a child from Napoli. The I jet to Payprus have the lady box and wrap it for an obscene amount of money then I head to the restaurant. The entire time, I'm nervous because I think you're going to hate it, find me cheap. Also, I know that you're too polite to tell me so and I've just given apart of my grandfather that I would never get back."

"I knew the marbles, were important to you. Why would Frankie even suggest giving them to someone not in your family?"

"He said "C'mon Janie, you know you've already given Maura something more valuable than Grandpa's marbles. Plus, she'll take care of them better than you will. I mean she takes care of you better than you do and you can finally teach her something I'm sure she knows nothing about. Oh and don't worry Janie I'll put my last dollar they'll stay in the family."

"I love them, genuinely. As I was writing, in our child's baby book I decided to take them out and found that marble. It was also the first marble, I won after, thirty-five games."

"Yea, that fucking Frankie," Jane drained the rest of her beer "Man do I miss my brother. I keep thinking about that case we had awhile back with Mandy. She and her brother reminded me so much of Frankie and I and our Catholic school days. I know he's feeling like that little boy. Just bring my sister back."

"Jane," Maura whimpered.

"Don't, Maur. I'm fixing it. Don't cry," Jane cooed. "How about Dimitri or Giancarlo?"


End file.
